Seven people injured in lates SE Maluku unrest

Seven people injured in lates SE Maluku unrest

By Budiman Moerdijat

AMBON, Maluku (JP): Clashes between Muslims and Christians in
the Southeast Maluku capital of Tual, about 500 kilometers
southeast of here, continued on Saturday, when at least seven
people were injured. The incident followed Friday's violence
which killed at least three people, witnesses and hospital staff
said.

Sukiman, a staff member at the emergency ward of Tual General
Hospital, told The Jakarta Post by phone that six people
suffering from bullet wounds were admitted to the hospital on
Saturday.

Meanwhile, Father Agus Ulahayanan said from Hati Kudus
Hospital in the nearby area of Langgur that another man was
admitted to the hospital later in the afternoon.

Agus said security personnel shot the man when he refused to
surrender his weapon during a search operation near the Sion
Church on Saturday afternoon.

"One man injured by an arrow in the violence on Friday is
still also being treated at the hospital," Agus said.

An officer at Tual police station, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told the Post by phone that Saturday's violence
erupted at 1:30 p.m. in the old city areas of Kuburan Cina and
Petak Duapuluh.

"Muslims and Christians were battling with crude weapons and
fuel bombs in the areas," he said, adding the security personnel
fired shots to disperse the crowd.

"The violence is subsiding but the city is still tense now,"
he said.

Maluku Military Commander Col. Karel Ralahalu told reporters
here earlier in the day the renewed communal clashes erupted in
Tual on Friday afternoon, in which at least three people were
confirmed killed and 29 more wounded by machetes, arrows, Molotov
cocktails and gunshots.

Nona Notanubun, head of Tual General Hospital, said that Age
Renhoran was died from slash wounds while Solikin Suminto and an
unidentified man died from bullet wounds.

"Age and Solikin were already dead when they arrived at the
hospital and we found a bullet in Solikin's mouth," Nona told the
Post from Tual.

Nona conceded the actual death toll could be higher as not all
victims of the violence were brought to the hospital, which is
located in a Christian enclave. Muslims who were injured were
instead taken to the mosque, Nona said.

Karel said security personnel were still planning to demarcate
Tual to separate Muslims and Christians to prevent unrest from
spreading to other areas.

Karel, who returned from Tual on Friday, said at least one
person had been arrested for allegedly inciting the unrest.

Tual and other nearby areas have been shaken by violent
clashes between Muslims and Christians which have killed at least
130 people since March 31.

More than 300 people were killed in Maluku in communal clashes
which first erupted in the provincial capital in mid-January and
then spread to other areas.

Karel said that nearly 10,000 troops, including a number of
reinforcement battalions from Java, have been deployed to end the
violence and will remain in the riot-torn province until June 11.